In an unexpected twist of fate, the Atlanta Braves have stumbled upon a charm that's more plush than powerful, yet it seems to be working. 'Snitbear,' a cuddly stuffed animal, has taken up lodging in the Braves' dugout and since this fortuitous mascot's arrival, the team's performance has spiked, now boasting a record of 5-1.
The story, as it unfolds, is ripe with the kind of quirky anecdotes that only baseball could produce. This bear, gifted to Marcell Ozuna by manager Brian Snitker, and donned playfully in a Braves cap and red bandana, was at first an unnamed package that Snitker admitted he was apprehensive to open. "I didn't want a tarantula to jump out at me or something," Snitker told WABE. "It was a bear, and I thought, what the hell, why not?"
Since the bear's debut on June 15, in a game where Atlanta trounced Tampa Bay 9-2, players like Jarred Kelenic and Austin Riley have seen promising upticks in their performance. Kelenic, moved up to the leadoff spot, has gone 9 for 28 with a seven-game hitting streak. Riley, on the other hand, has clocked 12 hits in his last 22 at-bats with home runs and doubles to boot. "It's a weird game and we’ll find anything and everything to get us going and get some good mojo," Riley said in a statement obtained by WABE.
The players understandably are not questioning the streak, embracing whatever element the bear brings to the dugout. Kelenic, enjoying his seat at the table of this newfound luck, quipped about the bear's free pass to prime baseball action: "He's got a front-row seat and he doesn’t have to buy a ticket to get in here, so lucky him." It’s clear that whatever the formula for success the Braves have found, the team is not about to let go of 'Snitbear' anytime soon, whatever keeps it going, whatever keeps it light, the team's ready for it, as per WABE.
